Archive for “Inspiration for Entrepreneurs”

The answers are often within us. That’s not to say you don’t have to work hard, research and struggle through, but your gut instincts can be the key to your success. I was reminded of that when I read Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford a few weeks ago. If you haven’t read it or [...]

I was just part of a mass email from my buddy Tom, who is an awesome guy and also has an unreal golf swing. Here’s the first paragraph: — An unholy event has occured about which some of you have already heard rumors. I wanted to clear things up right away before anything gets out [...]

The inspiration for starting a business can come from so many different sources. It happens every day and very often it is spawned from our daily experiences. The two inventor winners from our StartupNation/INPEX promotion, Dave Hammond and James Acevedo, came up with their inspiration through their vocations. Dave was a medic in Vietnam and [...]

Over the Memorial Day weekend, we built a wooden play structure from a kit. It is very hard work and I learned a couple of important things: 1) Carpenters and landscapers probably don’t have very nice fingernails or soft hands. 2) You really need a plan. Without the instruction manual, we would have had no [...]

Our L.A. – San Fran – Chicago road trip is complete. Actually, it involved 4 flights ending up back at the StartupNation HQ in Michigan. What a blast we had! The photo is from our chicago breakfast panel sponsored by Washington Mutual. Entrepreneurs were IN THE HOUSE! and they were looking for answers to their [...]

Ok, this is one of those “way out there” entries, but stick with me. It’s good stuff. My friend Rob and I didn’t start getting to know each other until about 3 weeks before he graduated, and it’s a shame, because I love talking to him. Besides being incredibly cool and having “success” written all [...]

Where do the hours go? One of the things I like best about working at home is making my own schedule. I decide when to write, when to read and when to act. Sometimes I am writing copy, or blogging at 11pm. Other times, my schedule doesn’t fit with my client’s schedule and I am [...]

I was just nestling in to my seat on the plane to Denver last week as I introduced myself to the gentleman sitting next to me. This guy was the talkative sort. Sometimes you spend a plane ride just saying hello & then each person focuses on their own thing. But Scott wanted to hear [...]

I’m skipping classes this week. I even missed an assignment. And its especially bad because during spring semester, everything moves twice as fast. But… I’m in London for a Charisma Sciences seminar we’re holding here, and I’m having a blast! We’re booked at a pretty hip hotel – last night we hung out with Moby [...]

By now you’ve probably heard, StartupNation: Open for Business is now on book shelves across the country. In it you’ll read great stories about entrepreneurs who’ve succeeded and the techniques and strategies that helped them win that success. We’re in Denver kicking off our book tour – next week we’re in San Fran, L.A. and [...]

“The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day, The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.” The opening lines of Ernest L. Thayer’s poem Casey At The Bat brought a broad smile to my father’s face just last week as our family gathered for Mother’s Day weekend. After [...]

This weekend I was in Austin, TX, where Wayne and I were doing a seminar and workshop. The weather was absolutely beautiful, the sky in Texas is vast, and the sunsets were magnificent swirls of atmosphere. Lots of college students, and everyone is SO FRIENDLY. We took our clients out to lunch on Saturday and [...]

Some of the greatest entrepreneurial inspirations have centered around food. You’ve probably heard the story of the ice cream vendor who ran out of cups one day and rolled up a waffle to hold the ice cream – thus the ice cream cone was born. But do you know the story of the Philadelphia Cheese [...]

I am in LOVE with the articles on our website that highlight entrepreneurs’ key moves. Each one tells the story of how someone got the inspiration to start their dream business and calls out a specific key move that they made to propel their business toward success. If you haven’t checked out Jonathan Conant’s story [...]

My first attempt working at home was in the early 1990′s. My husband was offered a promotion and transfer to my hometown of Philadelphia. My entire family is there. How could I say “no”? I was a partner in a startup public relations company. I bought a brand new computer, learned to use a modem, [...]

Just got back home from seeing a band called the Stereophonics. I can’t hear much out of my right ear. A bottle of wine I’d opened earlier has just enough left for half a glass, and the crisp evening air is wafting through semi-ajar windows. A train is sounding its horn about ten miles away. [...]

I had baseball practice tonight. Now this is real hardball, none of this old-guy softball stuff. It’s actually old-guy baseball. I’m playing another season in the over 40 league. As my 44 year old body is aching and I wait for the celebrex to kick in, I’m reminded (painfully) that all baseball players go through [...]

Sometimes the inspiration for starting your dream business can come from an unexpected direction. Learning from the past can be quite profitable, and life-changing for you as a budding entrepreneur. I was visiting my family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania this past weekend and one of the “must do” activities for these visits is Achenbach’s Bakery [...]

Hi friends, my name is Jonathan. I’m thrilled that Jeff, Rich and the rest of the StartupNation crew have asked me to share my thoughts with the community. Jeff and Rich have at times been big brothers, mentors, financiers, and fellow sushi connoisseurs to me, and hopefully I can pass on some of the wisdom [...]

The greatest thing about being the chief community officer of StartupNation (besides the fact that I have the coolest job title ever invented) is that I get to talk with entrepreneurs every single day. It’s a real hoot! Entrepreneurs are the most fascinating people. The truth is that there are as many different types of [...]